By Anton Karl Kozlovic
School of Humanities
The Flinders University of South Australia

Abstract

The sacred-secular parallels between Jesus Christ and Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman in Superman: The Movie
(1978) and Superman II (1981) were explicated previously in JR&F.1 Despite the
persuasive Christic subtext, the richness of the biblical parallels within
these two SF films did not stop with just an alien Messiah. Further
engineered biblical correspondences existed that complemented the Christic
subtext and uprated the overall sanctity of the filmic narratives. Three
areas of holy infranarratives were identified and explicated pertaining
to: (a) divine figurations, (b) blessed parents, and (c) holy associates.
Further research into this exciting field was recommended.

Introduction

[1] In "Superman as Christ-Figure:
The American Pop Culture Movie Messiah," Anton Karl Kozlovic2
explicated the sacred-secular parallels between Jesus Christ and
Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman (Christopher Reeve) in Superman: The Movie
(aka Superman hereafter S1) andits partial
back-to-back sequel Superman II (hereafter S2).3
However, despite its very persuasive Christic subtext, the richness of the
biblical parallels within these two science fiction (SF) films did not
stop with an alien Messiah. Further biblical correspondences existed that
complemented the Christic subtext and further uprated the overall sanctity
of the filmic narratives through an interlocking series of religious
associations. Indeed, many commentators have noted these associations, but
none have collated and presented it together until now. Three broad areas
of the holy, but non-Christic, Bible-film correspondences were identified
and explicated herein pertaining to: (a) the divine figurations, (b) the
blessed parents, and (c) the holy associates of Superman.

1.0 The Divine Figurations: Heavens Above

1.1 Jor-El as God/Father
Figure

[2] Both David Bruce4 and Patrick
Anderson5 considered Jor-El (Marlon Brando) to be the
God-like/Father-figure. Their observations have merit because his Godly
status was confirmed in at least twelve different ways throughout S1
and S2. For example.

[3] 1.1.1 Cinematographically, the "camera
always looks up at Jor-El, often alone in the frame, a commanding presence
even within the group of judges."6 He is somewhat
likened to a "wise patriarch,"7 "the wisest of its many
wise men,"8 in fact, he is one of Krypton's greatest
scientists (just like God, the master scientist), who oozed power,
integrity and monumental solemnity as befitting a God-figure.

[4] 1.1.2 Jor-El is repeatedly associated with
the colour white, the iconic signature colour of the Divine, and which is
biblically used to symbolise "holiness and righteousness."9
Whether it is Jor-El's glowing, silvery-white, phantasmagoric costume
"made up of thousands of light-sensitive beads"10 to
generate his aura of etherealness, or his snow-white hair with trademark
Superman forelock (but minus God's flowing white beard in the usual
biblical portraiture tradition).11 The ambient light
surrounding him is also frequently white, thus suggesting a cloud-like
heavenly environment (and itself symbolic of God's domain); albeit,
generated by fog and steam machines to add a smouldering quality to the
film set.12 Interestingly, Martha Kent was described by
Clark as "silver-haired" but not grey-haired in S1, thus
symbolically indicating in a very subtle way the divine worthiness of both
his surrogate Earth mother and his biological Kryptonian father.

[5] 1.1.3 Biblically
speaking, God manifested on Earth as "a voice from heaven" (Mark 1:11),13
"a voice [which] came out of the cloud" (Mark 9:7). Similarly, Jor-El was
a disembodied voice with accompanying cloud-faced imagery in S1 as
he tried to stop Superman from dramatically interfering with humanity
during the Man of Steel's angst-driven, sky flight. No explanation for
this sky voice phenomenon was attempted in the film, it was just accepted
as a property of the God-like Jor-El. Indeed, this cloud association in
the context of Jor-El's disapproval was apt for a second time because,
biblically speaking, cloud(s) are symbols "associated with God's
judgments."14

[6] 1.1.4 Thematically speaking, Jor-El is "a
perfect father/God image, the giver of life and the source of wisdom,15
especially as Kal-El's counsellor during his infant journey to Earth, and
then as a young man during his twelve years of instruction in the secret
Fortress of Solitude retreat." In a poignant moment in S2, a
de-powered, un-costumed Superman (but dressed as Clark Kent) cried out in
anguish "Father!" and "I need you." This resonated with Jesus's anguished
cry of "Abba, Father" (Mark 14:36) during a similar private moment in a
similar private retreat (i.e., the garden of Gethsemane) during a similar
distressing time (i.e., fear of future events).

[7] 1.1.5 Jor-El promised to watch over Kal-El
(just like God watched over Jesus), and he did so through his holographic
intermediary, whether on board the star-shaped starship, or within the
remote Fortress of Solitude, or elsewhere on planet Earth. Indeed, Jor-El
was choked with pride over the accomplishments of his son in S2,
just like God was pleased with Jesus, and who at his baptism said: "This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17). No doubt, God
will be pleased again when Jesus returns in the Second Coming as the
man of tomorrow. Ironically, before Superman was known as the "Man of
Steel" in his comic book incarnation, he was called the "Man of Tomorrow."16

[8] 1.1.6 The casting choice of Marlon Brando
as Jor-El was apt because he came from his triumphal successes in The
Godfather and The Godfather Part II, and therefore from a
"Godfather-figure to God the Father-figure."17 Brando
was always the powerful head of his clan who demonstrated dignity,
solemnity and conviction, whether as God, Judge, Father or Don (no doubt
helped along by S1 scriptwriter Mario Puzo who also wrote the
Godfather novel).

[9] 1.1.7 As a powerful authority figure on
Krypton, Jor-El's first lines in S1 are: "This is no fantasy, no
careless product of wild imagination." The sentiments of this statement is
also what is strongly believed by fundamentalist Christians about the
Bible (as the word of God), and the deeds of Jesus Christ contained
therein whom Edward Mehok labelled as "the ultimate hero...a superman
among us."18

[10] 1.1.8 Sarah Kozloff considered that
Jor-El's "name is similar to "Jehovah","19 the personal
name of God. However, linguistically speaking, more interesting is the
"El" in Jor-El, because it is the Hebrew word for "God, Lord."20
Thereby, directly implying the divinity of both Jor-El and his son Kal-El
as super-males, but not the "El"-less female Lara (Superman's biological
mother), the Kryptonian correlate of the earthly Virgin Mary (i.e.,
blessed companion but not divine per se).

[11] 1.1.9 Indeed, Michael Shapiro (1994, p.
374) thought that Kal-El was "a curiously Hebraic-sounding alien,"21
a comment no doubt rooted in the Jewish origins of Superman's creators,
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. This pair of cartoonists ranked 100th
in Shapiro's list of the one hundred most influential Jews of all time,
which also included Moses and Jesus. Considering Jesus's claim that: "I
and my Father are one" (John 10:30), then Kal-El's name (i.e., Superman's
birth name) also has divine significance. As Gary Engle sagely elaborated:

[12]The morpheme Kal bears a linguistic
relation to two Hebrew roots. The first, kal, means "with
lightness" or "swiftness" (faster than a speeding bullet in Hebrew?). It
also bears a connection to the root hal, where h is the
guttural ch of chutzpah. Hal translates roughly as
"everything" or "all." Kal-el, then, can be read as "all that is
God," or perhaps more in the spirit of the myth of Superman, "all
that God is." And while we're at it, Kent is a form of the Hebrew
kana. In its k-n-t form, the word appears in the Bible,
meaning "I have found a son." 22

[13] 1.1.10 Jor-El's starship instruction
lessons referred to twenty-eight known galaxies. This fact was irrelevant
to the storyline and had no filmic consequences in either S1 or
S2, however, it did resonate with Jesus's claim that: "In my Father's
house are many mansions" (John 14:2). Nor was Jor-El averse to exposing
Kal-El to Chinese philosophy as part of his developing intellectual
growth. The use of overt pagan philosophy for God's (Christian) ends was
also an important pedagogic tactic used by the Apostle Paul (Acts
17:22-23,28).

[14] 1.1.11 Other forms
of pseudo-biblical rhetoric were cultivated in S1, especially
Jor-El's blessing of Kal-El before his hasty departure from the doomed
Krypton. Namely, "We will never leave you...All that I've learned,
everything that I feel, I bequeath you. You will carry me inside you all
the days of your life...The son becomes the father and the father the
son."23 "At this point the script sounds as if it might
have been ghost-written by the author of the Gospel of John,"24
especially considering Jesus's claim: "I and my Father are one" (John
10:30). Indeed, in Mario Puzo's original script, he (unsuccessfully)
suggested that Jor-El and Superman be played by the same actor to
dramatically reinforce this oneness thematic.25

[15] 1.1.12 The intimate
bond between Jor-El and Kal-El was also filmicly reinforced by their
identical costume symbol. On Krypton, Jor-El has the "S" logo emblazoned
on the chest of both his official black velvet caftan and his unofficial
white jump suit. Similarly, Superman bore the same "S" logo upon the manly
chest of his tricot coloured flying suit comprising of cobalt blue,
scarlet red and canary yellow, but this time as his family
crest-cum-Earth-trademark for Superman, the Man of Steel. This was a
deliberate act crafted by the filmmakers "to further establish both the
real and symbolic bond between father and son."26

1.2 Lara as the Holy Spirit

[16]David Bruce27
considered Jor-El's wife Lara (Susannah York) to be a Holy Spirit-figure,
one of the intimate holy three (1 Peter 1:2). In S2, Lara is
subsequently revealed as the "keeper of the archives of Krypton" and thus
a vessel for Kryptonian wisdom, knowledge and other sagely advice. She can
answer Kal-El's questions with insight and authority, just like the Holy
Spirit who, as the spirit of truth, can guide one in all truth (John
16:13). Indeed, in Catholic theology, the Holy Spirit is referred to as
the "Love of God personified."28 This truth-and-love
role was dramatically reinforced during her holographic heart-to-heart
talk with Superman before he voluntarily stripped himself of his super
powers for love of Lois Lane (Margot Kidder).

[17]Lara was initially in her spirit-like form within the Kryptonian
imaging crystal inside the Fortress of Solitude, but later she
externalised into Superman's earthly world by literally stepping out of
the crystal to greet him. In her personified loving role, she accepted
Superman's "depowering" decision. This act is also similar to the ethereal
nature of the Holy Spirit who, in a literal reading, externalised in the
form of a dove who came out of the heavens at a similar status changing
moment - Jesus's baptism (Matt. 3:16). The Godly acceptance of Jesus's
decision was the beginning of his new earthly path, and upon which he
would be functionally inhibited in the use of any self-serving miraculous
abilities beyond God's will (aka Matt. 26:52-54).

1.3 The Green Crystal as the
Holy Spirit

[18]Alternatively, Sarah
Kozloff29 considered the glowing green crystal in
Superman's Fortress of Solitude to be analogous to the Holy Spirit, the
third person of the Holy Trinity (alongside God-the-Father and
Jesus-the-Son). Especially considering: (a) its strange, ethereal
emanations, (b) its people comforting function, (c) its Kryptonian
(heavenly) origins, and (d) its special placement within Kal-El's
spaceship by a very loving Jor-El. As indicated above, the Holy Spirit in
Catholic theology is referred to as the "Love of God personified."30
This loving role was most dramatically enacted in S2.

[19]A de-powered Superman
desperately returned to the Fortress of Solitude to recharge his spiritual
batteries. The alien "Messiah may have fallen, but now seeks redemption."31
After Superman cried out in anguish to his "Father," the green crystal
miraculously appeared in the background, as if left on the Fortress floor
carelessly (instead of a more honoured place given its guiding
gift-from-Jor-El nature, and/or a key architectural location given its
fantastic Fortress-building abilities). While on the floor, it emitted its
usual green glow and came to symbolise hope, guidance and restoration for
the dejected Superman. Although not directly depicted on screen, it is
assumed to have helped him become the redeemed, fully-powered Superman
again, thus indirectly emulating the claim of Acts 1:8: "But ye shall
receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."

[20]Superman reconsidered
the error of his ways and then earnestly sought to do his father's will, a
characteristic side effect of the Holy Spirit (Ezek. 36:26-27). The green
crystal thus deserved the critic's tag of "magic crystal."32
Its powerful status was also enhanced by the ethereal, otherworldly
quality of the Fortress's crystalline construction that appeared to have
the fragility of glass sculpture. The Fortress was a heavenly abode on
Earth and thus a fit place for a spiritual entity to reside within.
Indeed, architecturally speaking, Superman's crystalline Fortress kingdom
on Earth physically resembled Jor-El's crystalline kingdom on Krypton
(i.e., his home and high council quarters; metaphorically heaven). So much
so that when General Zod (Terence Stamp) and his evil cohorts invaded the
Fortress in S2, he bitterly complained about its dull Kryptonian
similarity, which no doubt, also brought back bad memories of his personal
failures and imprisonment there.

2.0 The Blessed Parents:
Divine Surrogates

2.1 Lara as the Virgin Mary

[21]David Bruce33
considered that Lara (Jor-El's wife and Kal-El's mother) was a Virgin
Mary-figure. Whereas, Sarah Kozloff considered that the "filmmakers have
divided the attributes of the Virgin Mary between Lara (Susannah York),
Superman's real mother, and Martha Kent (Phyllis Thaxter), Superman's
foster mother. Like Jor-El, Lara is endowed with god-like wisdom and
compassion, and with her long, flowing hair, she looks like a Raphael
Madonna. Martha Kent parallels other facets of Mary."34
In S2, Lara is revealed to be the "keeper of the archives of
Krypton" and thus containing considerable wisdom and knowledge, and
especially given that Earth was considered to be "thousands of years
behind" Krypton, as presumably heaven is compared to Earth.

2.2 Martha Clark Kent as the
Virgin Mary

[22]Sarah Kozloff35
considered that Martha Kent, Superman's foster mother, paralleled other
facets of the Virgin Mary, which is also filmicly borne out. For example,
Jesus's earthly parents were the previously childless Mary and Joseph
(Matt. 1:16), an "M" and a "J," who had the privilege of
looking after God's son. Likewise, Superman's earthly parents were an "M"
and a "J," Martha "Ma" Clark Kent and Jonathan
Kent who both looked after Jor-El's son. Nor were these initial parallels
only superficial. For example, Martha meant "'lady' or 'mistress'."36
The biblical Martha received Jesus into her house, and was both careful
and troubled (Luke 10:38,41), just like Superman's foster Ma in both
thought and deed during S1.

[23]Indeed, in the comic
book story of Superman, "the original Mrs. Kent was called Mary, providing
fodder for those who choose to see the entire saga as a Christian
allegory."37 Interestingly, Clark only called Martha
"mother" instead of "mum," implying formal respect befitting her exalted
surrogate status. The linking of Superman with his mother was also
verbally hinted at when Jonathan was initially upset with Martha's
decision to keep the newly-found baby Kal-El. He emotionally called her
"Martha Clark Kent," thus indicating that "Clark Kent" was
subsequently named after his surrogate mother, not father, in a defacto
matrilineal fashion.

2.3 Martha Clark Kent and the
Biblical Barren Woman Motif

[24]Barren woman who are given children by God is a favourite biblical
motif, as evidenced by Sarah (aka Sara, Sarai) (Gen. 11:30; 18:10-15;
21:1-2), Rebecca (Gen. 25:21), Elisabeth (Luke 1:7,13,24) and Manoah's
unnamed wife, the mother of Samson (Judg. 13:2-5). Similarly, Martha Kent
was childless, and there were no other children associated with their
family in either S1 or S2. At Kal-El's starship crash site,
she confessed to her husband Jonathan that she prayed to the good Lord for
years to give them a child, and now she was excited because Kal-El was
miraculously given to her from the heavens. She interpreted this crash
event as her Godly prayers having been answered. Interestingly, in the
1942 novel The Adventures of Superman, George Lowther rewrote the
history of Superman and renamed Mrs. Kent as "Sarah."38
This was also an appropriate biblical name for not only was Sarah old,
barren and given a child by God, Isaac, but she was heralded in the Bible
as an example of faith (Is. 51:2; Heb. 11:11). The Apostle Paul even
referred to her as the mother of the people of God's promise (Rom. 9:9).
Similarly, Mrs. Martha Kent was faithful to Superman and his secret, and
was the surrogate mother of Superman whom Jor-El had sent to Earth to help
humanity grow as a people. All these biblical female names assigned to her
over the years reflected positively upon her and her function and role
within the Superman saga.

2.4 Jonathan Kent as Joseph

[25]Jesus's earthly father
was Joseph (Matt. 1:16) who also had the privilege of looking after God's
son, albeit for a shorter time than his wife Mary. Similarly, Superman's
earthly father was another "J" name, Jonathan "Jon/Pa"
Kent (Glenn Ford), and whose name was also religiously significant because
Jonathan biblically means: "Yahweh has given."39 Thus a
divinely favoured one, as was Jonathan Kent who also looked after Kal-El
for Jor-El, the heavenly Father who "gave" his son to him. Not much is
known of the life or death of the Joseph, the biblical surrogate father.
But given that Jesus was scripturally referred to as "the son of Mary"
(Mark 6:3) rather than the son of Joseph, "scholars agree that Joseph
probably died when Jesus was a youth."40 Similarly,
Clark Kent lost his earthly father Jonathan (due to a heart attack) in his
formative teenage years, and which was the trigger for his own
self-discovery and earthly cosmic mission.

[26]Interestingly, Clark
only called Pa Kent "dad" but not "father," thus implying less formal
respect befitting his less exalted status compared to his wife Martha
(metaphorically the Virgin Mary). In S1, not much was revealed
about Jonathan other than he was good, understanding, and wise, as
demonstrated by his kind counsel to Clark concerning his indirect showing
off of his super powers to his high school peers. Glenn Ford deliberately
played Jonathan as "a simple, midwestern, salt-of-the-earth fellow."41
Structurally speaking, the "death of the surrogate father frees Clark to
leave his mother and is a necessary step in his evolution as a hero."42
This rationale may also help explain why Joseph mysteriously suffered a
textual death within the Bible, especially given the sacred text
preference for brevity.

2.5 Other Parental Parallels

[27]Jesus's earthly
parents, Mary and Joseph were good and pious but of: (a) lowly birth
(i.e., non-powerful); (b) lowly station (i.e., vocationally, a carpenter
and his wife); and (c) living in an unimportant location, as evidenced by
Nathanael's claim: "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (John
1:46). Similarly, Superman's earthly parents, Martha and Jonathan, were of
good but lowly birth, station and locality, as demonstrated by their
simple (not simpleton) ways, their non-powerful, down-to-earth farmer
occupation, and their sparse rural location that was not indicative of
urban sophistication. They lived among beautiful amber waves of grain in
(supposedly) the American Mid-West, in a town whose designation was
diminutively encoded as "Smallville" (i.e., a wordplay on the theme
of non-significance). Indeed, both Martha and Jonathan were wearing their
church-best when they found young Kal-El's crashed starship, thus implying
Christian piousness on a Sunday. The Lord's day was certainly apt when
finding an Earth-bound heavenly son. At Pa Kent's death, Martha wore a
Christian cross around her neck and held a red-edged Bible to overtly tag
her Christian faith stance.

3.0 The Holy Associates:
Sacred Friends

3.1 Lois Lane as Mary
Magdalene

[28]Sarah Kozloff argued
that Lois Lane, Clark's reporter peer at the Daily Planet, "roughly
parallels Mary Magdalen...the prostitute reformed and converted by Jesus
who becomes one of his most faithful followers...Lois Lane...assumes the
role of Superman's most devoted and most favoured disciple, and while she
is not presented as a prostitute ...she is repeatedly associated with
sex."43 Indeed, both S1 and S2 are
saturated with sexual suggestiveness regarding Lois, whether directly,
indirectly, covertly, symbolically or metaphorically. For example:

[29] 3.1.1 In S1,
the "Magdalen Lois Lane"44 wrote an article for the
Daily Planet about a rapist that she claimed contained sex, violence
and the ethnic angle (i.e., painful, transgressive overtones with exotic
erotic resonances about the Other). Later, she wrote another related
newspaper piece, a profile about a sex maniac (i.e., again implying wild
and dangerous eroticism) that Perry White editorially corrected by saying:
"There's no "z" in brassiere. " Thereby, invoking further female erotic
associations, especially in the context of a sex maniac story. Indeed,
brassieres are clothing icons of female sexuality that imply the worldly
containment of a powerful natural sexual force. Lois is certainly no
stranger to sexual subject matters, and she was obviously professionally
concerned with keeping her newspaper readers abreast of sexual issues.

[30] 3.1.2 During her
formal interview of Superman at her penthouse apartment, Lois asked a
series of double entendre questions. For example, she curiously asked if
Superman was married, had a girlfriend, how big (i.e., not "tall") he was,
and if his other bodily functions were in working order (with their
embarrassingly clear sexual implications that was filmicly recognised by
both of them). To test Superman's X-ray vision, Lois asked what colour
underwear she was wearing, thus forcing him to examine her most intimate
sexual wares, with underwear itself being another iconic symbol of
sexuality. (Interestingly, when Margot Kidder won the Lois Lane part, she
celebrated by going to Beauchamp Place to buy lots of silk underwear, nor
was she trapped by modesty limitations in her real life).45
To her erotic test question, Superman eventually replied "pink"
accompanied with a subtle non-verbal hint of his intimate knowingness (and
the uncomfortably possibility of her having been visually raped by his
x-ray eyes). Later, she asked if he liked the colour pink (now a flesh
coloured metaphor for her sexual wares). Superman enthusiastically
confirmed it (and his own heterosexuality). It was a stereotypic
hot-blooded American response full of sexual promise, especially for a man
wearing brightly coloured "underwear" on the outside of his tights, and
thus engaging in his own game of sexual display.

[31] 3.1.3 After her
exclusive Superman interview, Lois wrote a newspaper article entitled: "I
spent the night with Superman" which itself contained strong sexual
connotations of forbidden delights, and deliberately engineered by Lois
given her exclusive author status. Lois apparently thought of little else
other than sex before, during and after her Superman encounters. Indeed,
prior to her earthquake death in S1, Lois's car radio is playing a
Super Tramp song with the appropriately prophetic lyrics: "give a little
bit of my life for you" from "Give A Little Bit" within Super Tramp's
Even in the Quietest Moments album. Was this choice of song and band
meant to subtly imply that Lois was the tramp of Superman who,
prophetically speaking, would give a little bit of her life and sex to
Superman (as she did in S2 during their very quiet moment in the
fortress of Solitude)?

[32] 3.1.4 The Mary
Magdalen-Jesus Christ association was further reinforced in S2.
"Iconographically their positions echo those of Magdalen and Christ when
he reveals himself to her outside the tomb as depicted in the "Noli me
tangere" paintings of Rembrandt, Tritian and others."46
In S2, Superman dropped the self-effacing, hesitant Clark Kent
persona, what Gary Engle considered was "the epitome of visible
invisibility,"47 and finally came out of the superhero
closet to Lois. Significantly, he did it personally and in private before
Lois, while inside a modern day tomb of clear ritual significance
traditionally involving a mini death of another pleasurable sort, the
Honeymoon Haven. Their hotel room and its many furnishings were saturated
with pink shades (as was Lois Lane's outfit during the Eiffel Tower
terrorist incident in S2, and the colour of her underwear in S1).
At one point, Lois refused a champagne drink from Clark because of an
alleged "kissing contest," thereby evoking sexual intimacy once again.
After Clark Kent revealed his true identity as Superman, Lois bluntly
claimed: "I'm in love with you" with further subtle intimations of
impatience sexual desire followed by Superman evoking his own noli me
tangere (i.e., touch me not) instructions because he was not quite
ready for intimate contact just then. This curious two-sided love
triangle, this personal menage a trois between Lois Lane, Clark
Kent and Superman was now resolved into heterosexual normalcy, which
subsequently climaxed in the Fortress of Solitude.

[33] 3.1.5 The dual
good-girl/bad-girl nature of Mary Magdalene resonated with Lois Lane's
good-girl/bad-girl behaviours on-screen. This was most graphically
symbolised in S2 concerning her health. Lois demonstrated a dual
fanaticism about the vitamin benefits of freshly squeezed orange juice,
which she impatiently proceeded to make in her office. However, she was
also simultaneously smoking a cigarette (in a classic "bad-girl"
fag-sucking pose) before stubbing it out into a very congested ashtray
(i.e., dramatic evidence of a very unhealthy lifestyle). In S1,
Lois actually wanted a greasy hamburger with everything on it, plus
freshly squeezed orange juice for her 9.00am breakfast!

[34] 3.1.6 Superman,
especially as the lovelorn, alter ego Clark Kent, is romantically attached
to Lois Lane. This narrative thread resonated with the many
extra-canonical stories of Mary Magdalene being the secret lover of Jesus.48
This lover thematic was prefigured when Lois absent-mindedly asked
Superman the double-entendre question: "How big are you?" (i.e., not "How
tall are you"). The sex theme was symbolically introduced again during
their flying sequence when "Superman takes Lois over the Statue of Liberty
[which] cleverly indicates to adult viewers - precocious children - that
it's an allegory for a prolonged orgasm."49 This scene
is "quite genuinely erotic...one remembers Freud's insistence that dreams
of flight are dreams of sexual intercourse."50

[35] 3.1.7 Indeed, if we
take a text-as-reader-construct approach to this sexual thematic within
S2, then its erotic trajectory can be even more dramatically extended
in at least seven ways, ranging from the symbolic, to the metaphoric, to
the realistic, if one had a mind to do so. For example:

[36](a) Critical plot events take place in
Paris which is famous for being "the most romantic city of the world,"51
so what better world capital to pursue an erotic theme within. Metaphoric
sexual symbolism was also utilised via the phallic-looking Eiffel Tower,
which was repeatedly shot in all its huge, erect beauty.

[37](b) Continuing this erotic metaphor was
an excited Lois Lane who (again) wore pink clothing (i.e., the iconic
colour for girls and innocent love), presumably along with her pink
underwear from S1. In her passionate pursuit of adventure, she was
intimately attached to the erect Eiffel Tower. She located herself on the
outside of the cable car (sperm packet?) riding the Tower up and down
uncontrollably (mechanical masturbation?). At one point during the
boxcar's descent (deep penetration?), Lois has a look of overwhelmed
abandonment (temporary loss of control during sexual passion?), especially
as the boxcar is rapidly falling (intense, vigorous penetration?). When
Superman (her lover?) physically arrived on the scene (consciously
focused?), he communicated, detached, comforted and embraced Lois (romance
responses?). Then he manually pushed the box car (autoerotism?) up the
metal tower (penis?) one more time until it violently erupted
(ejaculation?) from the top of its knob-like metal assembly (penis head?).
The H-bomb on board then exploded in a spectacular light display (orgasm?)
that momentarily disorientated Superman, literally blowing him away
(temporary loss of conscious control?). He stabilised, reorientated
himself (gained sexual control?), and then safely returned to Earth
(joyous sexual satisfaction?). No scene of Superman reporting his
experiences to friends (sexual bragging?) was recorded, but Lois would
repeatedly daydream about Superman (erotic reminiscing; to generate
further sexual anticipatory excitation?).

[38](c) However, unlike their previous
metaphoric sexual flying near the Statue of Liberty in S1, this
time, Superman's and Lois's unplanned and unprotected metaphoric sex had a
disturbing unintended consequence. The concussion shock wave (good
vibration?) of the exploded (orgasmic?) H-bomb travelled through the inky
darkness of space (womb?) and penetrated (fertilised?) the cosmic
Kryptonian prison (egg?) containing the evil triumvirate (an ovum full of
unexpressed life?). This contact (sexual consummation?) resulted in the
violent release (birth?) of its malevolent contents (evil black
triplets?), and their subsequent aberrant behaviours thereafter
(rebelliousness?) which was certainly in need of super-level control
(stern parenting?). How much of this metaphoric sexual trajectory was
deliberately planned is uncertain, but it is not beyond the realms of
scriptwriting possibility.

[39](d) The sexual
thematic was again prefigured, if somewhat more directly this time, when
Clark Kent and Lois Lane posed as the newly weds Mr. and Mrs. Smith at the
Niagara Falls love-nest, the Honeymoon Haven. Especially with its intimate
flames of love, huge vibrating bed and Clark's excitedly hopeful
discussions about their forthcoming sleeping arrangements while undercover
for the Daily Planet. (This was another sex-related newspaper story
that involved Lois Lane as a Mary Magdalene-figure).

[40](e) Lois's sexuality
was non-metaphorically highlighted again in the Fortress of Solitude
super-pad when she changed her clothes and returned wearing a translucent
negligee with a noticeable pubic shadow. Both Superman and the audience
could see through her obvious sexual intent.

[41](f) The sexual theme
was further reinforced during the Fortress's Kryptonian bed scene, in
which it is strongly hinted (but not actually shown, especially in
pneumatic gyration fashion) that Superman had physically consummated his
love for Lois. Neither do the Scriptures contain any direct references to
such sexual events, even for Jesus, the fully human Son of man (Matt.
17:9; Mark 14:62; Luke 9:58; John 12:23). The looks of satisfaction on
Superman and Lois's contented faces conveyed this erotic conclusion, but
this indirect approach is understandable given the film's family focus and
appeal.

[42](g) Superman and
Lois's intimate relationship was further reinforced when Lex Luthor (Gene
Hackman) referred to the couple as the "best of friends" and implied an
intimate sexual relationship via his tone of voice when he reported to the
unholy triumvirate. Consequently, Ursa (Sarah Douglas) grabbed Lois as a
hostage and took her to the Fortress of Solitude to lure Superman. While
doing so, she referred to Lois as "his favourite," a phrase which itself
implied a concubinal relationship between Superman and Lois.

3.2 Lois Lane as the Apostle
Peter

[43]Lois Lane also enacted
Apostle Peter-like behaviour. Just as the excited-cum-doubting Peter
nearly drowned while miraculously walking on water with Jesus (Matt.
14:28-31), the excited-cum-nervous Lois Lane nearly fell out of the sky
while miraculously flying among the clouds with Superman. In any case,
both events were miracles by earthly standards. Indeed, both ancient and
contemporary believing protagonists moved dangerously in downward
directions. However, in a timely fashion, Peter was rescued by Jesus
(Matt. 14:31) and Lois was rescued by Superman. Personally, Lois Lane's
ambitious, spunky, go-getter reporter brashness was just like the Apostle
Peter's impulsive brashness (John 18:10). Similarly, Peter was the bedrock
of the Christian faith who was given the keys of the kingdom (Matt.
16:18-19), and was thus an intimate confidant of Jesus who received
privileged revelations and holy love from him (Matt. 17:1-2; Mark 9:2-3).
Whereas, Lois was the feisty journalistic champion of Superman for both
the Daily Planet and Metropolis as a whole, who subsequently
warranted his trust, and was later given the precious gift of his secret
identity, and then physical love, in S2.

3.3 Lois Lane as Adam and
Beyond

[44]When Superman and Lois
are magically flying together, during a key moment their fingertips barely
touch and the "close shot of hands in this position looks like the hands
of Adam and God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Afterwards, Lois
thinks to herself with awe, "Here I am, holding hands with a God."52 Both filmic action and dialogue resonated with this Western
iconic image of divinity meeting humanity as most famously represented in
Michelangelo Buonarroti's The Creation of Adam.53
Interestingly, director Richard Donner had originally shot a God-Adam
scene for S2, but it got edited out by his replacement director
Richard Lester. This scene was to show the depowered Superman being beaten
to a pulp in a road dinner, and thus was barely able to return to the
Fortress of Solitude. However, once inside, Jor-El reached through the
void towards an unconscious Clark to help him. As scriptwriter Tom
Mankiewicz claimed: "It's God touching the hand of Adam as Jor-El touches
his son and rejuvenates him, and 'kills' himself by expelling the last of
his energy."54 Killing Jor-El the God-figure for a
second time (the first occurred during Krypton's destruction) would have
been overkill, and was mercifully eliminated.

3.4 Jimmy Olsen as an
Apostle/Holy Disciple

[45]In addition to Lois
Lane,Superman's other true believer was Jimmy Olsen (Marc
McClure), the cub photographer for the Daily Planet. He was both
Lois Lane and Clark Kent's co-worker who "could be seen as Peter or
Paul?,"55 especially given both Apostles' ability to
create incredible word-pictures of Jesus's deeds within the Gospels and
elsewhere. Olson's newspaper pictures would functionally do the same
thing. Interestingly, Superman forsook other citizens caught in the
rocket-induced earthquake in S1, including stranding Jimmy Olsen on
the desolate highway to help Lois Lane who was alone on a deserted
back-road. This act resonated with Jesus's parable (Luke 15:4) of the good
shepherd (Superman) who would leave the ninety-nine sheep in the
wilderness (Olsen and the earthquake victims) in order to find the lost
one (Lois).

Conclusion

[46]There are so many
biblical references and symbolic religious resonances that one playfully
wonders where all the science fiction is located within these two classic
SF films! However, if secular films with sacred subtexts, that is,
"overtly religious themes in a secular 'wrapper'"56 can
lead one to critically (re-)examine the Bible, then so be it! Studying
Superman can serve the same instructive purpose as formal Scripture Study
in Religious Education classes. Not as a replacement for the divine word,
but rather, as an aesthetic aide to religious contemplation, as a visual
piety beachhead for experimental religious discourse. As Gary Engle
argued, Superman "can serve as a safe, nonsectarian focus for essentially
religious sentiments, particularly amongst the young... [even if only as]
an American boy's fantasy of a messiah."57

[47]However, it is of
little "matter that Superman is not an overtly religious figure and that
St. Clark of Krypton preaches a secular gospel"58 for
"the Superman legend [is] a mainstay of American popular culture."59
One merely needs to develop new postmodern eyes and ears to perceive
(Ezek. 44:5) these sacred subtexts, not as new wine in new bottles (Matt.
9:17), but rather, as old wine in new bottles. Further research into this
fascinating field is highly recommended and to be encouraged, especially
in this post-Millennial age of the moving image.

Notes

3.S1 is
the default film when discussing narrative episodes. S2 will be
mentioned specifically as appropriate. The various TV, video, special
editions and DVD versions of S1 and S2 vary considerably,
but will not be discussed herein.